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UL Honours Student Volunteers as over 40,000 hours of volunteering is reached UL Honours Student Volunteers as over 40,000 hours of volunteering is reached

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UL Honours Student Volunteers as over 40,000 hours of volunteering is reached

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9 years ago

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Pictured: Award recipients pictured with Professor Don Barry, University of Limerick President after the President Volunteer Awards ceremony. University of Limerick, Limerick. Picture: Diarmuid Greene/Fusionshooters.

UL Honours Student Volunteers as over 40,000 hours of volunteering is reached

Pictured: Top Row, Cathal O’Connor, Cassandra Murphy, Charul Singh, Lansinliu, and Ryan O’Hanlon. Front Row, Johanna Griffin, Gossi Mangidi, Professor Don Barry, University of Limerick President, Shylesh Kesarmadu Siddalingappa, Rodrigo Andrade, Ciara Larkin and Tony Sheridan, from Carrickmacross.
Picture: Diarmuid Greene/Fusionshooters

UL honours student volunteers this year at the annual President’s Volunteer Award (PVA) ceremony at the University of Limerick. The President’s Volunteer Award Programme was established in 2010 to encourage students to engage with their communities and become lifelong believers in social responsibility. 217 students were awarded this year, with over 40,000 hours of volunteering reached.

The PVA applications increased by 42 percent this past academic year and the range of student community- led initiatives and collaborations continues to grow year on year.   The 217 PVA Recipients this year represented the entire study body; access, undergraduate, post-graduate, international, Erasmus and study Abroad students – all contributing to worthy local organisations.


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 Speaking at the event, UL President, Professor Don Barry said: “The PVA awards are a wonderful opportunity to recognise the contributions our students are making locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.  During this academic year UL students contributed over 12,000 hours of their time to volunteering work and, since the establishment of the PVA in 2010, over 40,000 volunteer hours have been documented. Student volunteering continues to be the largest civic engagement activity on campus.”
The activities of volunteers ranged from countless hours volunteering with Pieta House, the Reserve Defense Forces, fund raising for a wider variety of charities, working with homework clubs to enhance the learning experiences of children throughout the city, developing new and exciting fun initiatives like the Teddy Hospital to help sick children overcome their fear of medics and hospitals, getting involved in clubs and societies on campus to enhance the UL’s students experience.  Over 300 volunteer clubs/societies and organisations have benefit from the volunteer work of UL students.
UL is committed to continuing to grow the number of student volunteers, not just in UL but throughout all higher education institutes (HEI) in Ireland.   UL’s Community Liaison Officer, Gabriella Hanrahan, is working in collaboration with colleagues in NUI Galway Alive programme, DCU in the Community, Campus Engage to deliver a unique HEI student volunteer management system and database. This system will enable community organisations on and off campuses across Ireland and beyond to engage directly with student volunteers.   The national volunteer management system and database will be launched later this year.
UL Honours Student Volunteers as over 40,000 hours of volunteering is reached

Pictured: Rose Serbitova, from Daughters of Charity, Kay O’Sullivan, Professor Don Barry, University of Limerick President, Fergal Enright, Diarmuid Burke, John Casey, and Gabriella Hanrahan, Community Liason Officer, Student Affairs Division, University of Limerick.
Picture: Diarmuid Greene/Fusionshooters

The award recipients represent almost every county in Ireland as well as countries including Spain, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Japan, China, the USA and  Canada, and 

Guest speaker at the award ceremony was Brian Higgins, CEO of Pieta House. Brian took over the CEOs position in mid-January this year, having spent his career to date with Missing People in the UK, the Rainbow Project International in Zambia, and Depaul USA in Philadelphia, among other interesting roles.    Students at UL have led the development of Limerick City’s Pieta House- Darkness into Light initiative.
For further information about the President’s Volunteer Award, click here
Visit the University of Limerick website here
Read about Limerick charities here
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